


unashamedly us

by orphan_account



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22634161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: (fanmade sequel to The Years Go By Like Days by georgiestauffenberg)"Of course he knows that voice. How could he not? It's Eddie. It's always been Eddie."
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 5





	1. to the ends of the earth

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the years go by like days](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13593369) by [georgiestauffenberg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiestauffenberg/pseuds/georgiestauffenberg). 



> I read The Years Go By Like Days and just had to write something to get all my feelings out :')  
> warning: idk much about the book and idk about medical stuff soooo
> 
> Richie wakes up.

Richie isn't living so much as he is merely existing.

Mostly it feels like nothing at all, tethered to flashes of visions and dreams that feel real sometimes and sometimes not. However, the most distinct part of floating through this soup of confusion and numbness is the voices that drift in and out of his consciousness, like a blurry image focusing from vague colors to crispness. Time and reality are distorted, and sometimes Richie thinks he's dead.

But there's one voice that is almost always there, and when it's gone there's a distinct absence. The voice is soothing and steady, full of love and concern and sadness that Richie wishes he can reach up and rub away from that pinched face. The voice frequently mentions Francie, along with other names like Bev or Stan, and though Richie's brain can't quite make sense of what that means, there's a sense of reassurance and fondness there that calms his brain. There are other voices too, all of them surging with love, and even though he doesn't always understand them, their presence is comforting nonetheless.

_We're here, you're going to be okay. We'll be okay._

_You're indestructible, remember, Richie? You're Richie fucking Tozier._

_Francie called again saying how much she misses Poppy._

_Did you hear that, Trashmouth?_

_If there's a voice he'd follow to the ends of the earth..._

_Of course he knows that voice. How could he not? It's Eddie. It's always been Eddie._

Sometimes the images are too real, and sometimes Richie's right there, hands grasping at Eddie's lifeless face. In those dreams, Eddie's blood is black on his shirt from where he's been impaled, and it spills out of his mouth in disgusting globs. Richie is too heartbroken to be furious with himself for letting Eddie die, every ounce of his body screaming Eddie, Eddie, and he watches as that broken body grows farther and farther away. He's still screaming as the house collapses, knowing how Eddie is all alone in a fucking disgusting sewer when he should be watching Francie grow up with Richie, beaming until his face hurts. Of course it isn't real--but even so, Richie hates himself, and he hates them for dragging him away when they could have saved him--

_I love you so much, sweetheart._

Then the voice returns, and the vision fades away. 

* * *

There are voices again, but this time, Richie opens his eyes.

Everything is blindingly white, and everything hurts.

Richie can't really move much, but he can at least move his hands. His fingertips feel the fabric of the bed underneath him, and he's patting the sheets a little when the voices stop.

The Losers are all here. But first, there's Eddie, who fills Richie's vision, and he tries to speak, say anything.

_Ow. Fuck._

Eddie is definitely crying, and he takes Richie's hand in one hand while the other strokes Richie's cheek. His eyes are swollen and tired, but they're bright anyway, and words start gushing out of him. The other Losers nod along, all placing a comforting hand on Richie, and he comes to understand that he can't talk because his jaw is wired shut (he vaguely thinks that finally, something shut him up) and there are wires and shit keeping him alive. He doesn't understand the medical jargon Eddie uses, but he's just so glad Eddie's here and he's okay. Bev is full of warmth, eyes twinkling with emotion; Bill is beaming softly, previous guilt overcome by relief; Stan is smiling in that genuine way that shows he really means it; Mike is quiet but calming, a comforting hand placed on Richie's leg; and Ben, on Richie's other side, places a soft hand on Richie's.

It takes a moment for Richie to comprehend that It is really dead.

The memory of what went down in the sewers is a little fuzzy, but when they tell him, he remembers and he wishes he didn't.

(Francie screaming Poppy, help me and Eddie's eyes gouged out as he screamed in agony before collapsing. Richie stumbling forward in disbelief. Then... )

He thinks what would've happened if Francie lost her Poppy, and it makes his heart ache. 

The doctors rush over and are probably annoyed that they weren't alerted sooner of Richie's return to consciousness. They shoo everyone away except for Eddie, who is adamant ("I'm family!") and check his vitals while Eddie brushes his thumb reassuringly over the back of Richie's hand. Apparently, Richie woke before, but he doesn't remember.

Then the doctors are apparently satisfied, and Richie and Eddie are finally left alone. Eddie is endlessly gentle, even as Richie blinks slowly to respond to his questions and Richie's hand squeezes Eddie's painfully tightly. Eddie shifts in the little chair by the bed so his head is almost on Richie's shoulder, and they stay like that for a while, simply content to be in each others' presence. Richie is infinitely glad to hear that Francie is doing okay and enjoyed her time with his parents, and also how relieved they are that he's okay. 

Well, okay might be a bit of an overstatement. He feels like absolute shit. But as long as Eddie Kaspbrak is next to him, he's okay and more.

Eddie's still there as Richie drifts off again, a smile on his face that Richie knows only he gets to see, and his hand traces hearts into Richie's palm as the world falls away.


	2. poppy's home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> francie!!

_"Poppy!"_

Francie's eyes are blown open as she takes in the sight of Richie, his sparse hair hidden by a beanie and his jaw fully functioning now (even if everything is sore). Eddie told him when they were still at the hospital how awful he felt lying to their little girl about the situation, but they knew it was probably the best way to handle it. So while Richie's jaw was still wired shut as he recovered, Francie ended up staying with Richie's parents longer than initially planned.

Both of them are running, and as Richie scoops her up in his arms, Eddie joins them in a hug. Francie is elated, and Richie laughs as she kisses his nose. "Hey, kiddo. Oops, I mean her majesty queen of the world."

"Poppy! I missed you so much, you won't believe what I saw!" She points to the plastic pink tiara adorning her head.

"Gawrsh, did ya get to go on lots of rides, your highness? A-hyuck!" Richie drops into the voice for the heck of it, and Eddie rolls his eyes fondly as Francie giggles.

"Goofy, huh? That's a new one."

Francie's head snaps to Eddie, as if just noticing that he's there. "Daddy! Hi!"

"Hi, princess," Eddie grins, and Richie's heart swells knowing that they're here together and they will be for the rest of their fucking lives.

Richie leans forward to shower the both of them in kisses; Eddie manages to break away, pull Francie into his arms, and nod sincerely to Maggie and Went, who are standing a bit away and smiling as well. They move forward and soon Richie is enveloped in his mother's arms, Went placing a hand on his son's shoulder, and Richie almost cries just from that. He's home.

* * *

Richie hasn't forgotten.

"Holy shit," he whispers in the black expanse of cool air. "I haven't forgotten."

He can remember Bill's stupid floppy hair and see him grinning on that stupid bike. There's Stan, rolling his eyes with a tiny smile, good old Stan accepting Richie before anyone else did. Mike, setting up a starlit prom night and getting the team back together; what would they do without Mike? And Ben, the new kid on the block who caught on to things and wrote sappy poetry. Bev, of course, his girl who just gets Richie and knows how to flip someone off with the most affection possible.

Eddie makes a soft, sleepy sound, nuzzling closer to Richie. "Yeah. It's dead, now."

"It really is."

"Go to sleep," Eddie mumbles, and Richie does. He doesn't dream of anything at all, and when he wakes up, Eddie is there kissing him awake.


	3. unashamed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stannnn

It turns out Patty really does loves Broadway.

So does the rest of the gang, as they go to see the 2016 revival of Falsettos. Stan snorts at "Four Jews in a Room Bitching", and they all are in tears by the end; especially Richie and Eddie. Afterwards, they decide to go eat somewhere nice in the city.

It's to celebrate Stanley and Patty officially moving to New York, despite everyone retaining their memories. Stan's landed a job at a prominent accounting firm nearby, and the moment he got the call, he'd texted Richie: _See you soon, Trashmouth :)_

Then, after a few moments: _how to change phone background iphone_

Then, finally, before Richie had even replied: _shut the fuck up Richie I swear--_

(Richie thinks that maybe Stan secretly wants to keep the picture as his wallpaper for eternity. After all, who wouldn't want to see his lovely mug every time they opened their phone to do anything?)

Anyway, they're all here again. They don't go to a Chinese restaurant this time; it's a nice Italian place that Richie can only compare to Olive Garden with his limited restaurant knowledge. There's Bev, who's grinning at Ben as they hold hands under the table. Bill, with Audra -- they're delighted over Bill's successful novel and the upcoming film adaptation starring Audra as the protagonist. Mike, who has been seeing all the places he didn't get to in his many years at Derry while posting his travels on his blog. And there's Patty and Stan, and Richie and Eddie. They've all got their own separate lives, yet here, they're all a huge family. There's no other way to describe it.

Over breadsticks, they discuss what's been going on in their lives. "We got a Roomba and we named it Mike Wazowski," Bev chimes in at one point.

"Francie has been doing really well at school. At first, she was really scared to start a new year, but I've been checking with her teachers and she's been making tons of friends," Eddie says, his hand in Richie's. Richie smiles when he thinks of Francie, now at the house of her friend Margaret (nicknamed Gary by Richie, much to Francie's annoyance). His girl has been doing so well in first grade, though lately she's taken to taping notes everywhere whenever she wants to remind him not to do something. Like, don't leave the cap off, Pops! or turn it off when you're finished, Poppy!

Richie grins at the memory. She really is a Kaspbrak.

When the meal ends, they're all leaving when Richie feels a tap on his arm. He wheels around and sees a teenage girl looking up at him with wide eyes.

"H-hi, you're Richie Tozier..?"

"I am he," Richie bows down deeply, making the girl giggle a bit. "How can I be of your service, Madame?"

"Well, um... I just wanted to say thank you. For what you do -- showing everyone that you're, um, unashamedly you, if that makes sense?" The girl is obviously flustered, but her words make Richie's eyes flutter open in shock.

"Anyway. It means a lot to me, and I th-think it means a lot to a lot of people. S-so, um. Thanks again."

The girl then does a tiny half-bow and hurries away. Richie is dumbfounded.

"Speechless, Trashmouth?" Stan says.

"No, I, uh. Fuck. I guess I didn't realize how much it meant to people. Like, I always wanted to do something with comedy other than just comedy but I didn't realize it actually worked."

"Unashamedly you," Eddie murmurs. He swings their hands between them. "I think I like the sound of that."

Richie likes the sound of that too.


	4. dancing colors on your cheek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> communication is key

They're in the middle of movie night, Francie tucked away safely in bed, when Richie says, "I had a really vivid dream when I was... gone. And I think you died in it."

They haven't talked much about Richie's time in a coma, but they've made a point to talk about feelings more, and sometimes Richie's mind drifts back to this and he can see it. He's pretty sure he's dreamt about it several times too, but he doesn't remember the actual content of his dreams much.

The soft colored light of the TV dances on Eddie's cheek in the darkess. "I still have dreams too," he admits. "About what happened back there."

"This didn't really happen though," Richie says, "but it felt so fucking real. Like, I was convinced you were dead, even though I knew you weren't in the back of my mind. It's like I was looking into an alternate reality or something, where everything went down differently."

Eddie frowns and his gentle fingers find their way to Richie's cheek. "But we're here, and we're okay. You're okay, I'm okay."

"I know, babe," Richie's thoughtful frown turns to a small smile. "You were there. I heard your voice telling me you loved me, and the dream went away."

Eddie's eyes widen. "Wait, you heard what I said when you were, um, asleep?"

"Kinda. Bits and parts, I knew it was you talking to me. And it made everything better. So thank you."

They're silent for a moment, sounds still coming from the TV, but it's a comfortable, thoughtful silence. Richie pipes up again eventually.

"So you were saying you still have dreams about what happened back there?"

Eddie bites his lip a little, and they shift closer so Richie's hand is placed comfortingly on Eddie's thigh. "Yeah. It's mostly about when we found you, with... with It. I never did know exactly what went down there, but that moment stuck with me."

Richie's brow furrows, but Eddie hurriedly says, "But you're always there if I wake up, and it makes everything okay."

"You should wake me up so I can snuggle your ass," Richie says, snuggling against Eddie to prove his point.

Eddie frowns. "I'm not going to make both of us tired if only one of us has to be. And like I said, just you being there makes everything okay. I haven't had any dreams like that recently, and I think it's because every time I wake up and I see you there with your arms around me and I think how lucky I am that you're with me every day."

Richie coos, moving to smother Eddie beneath him. "Aww, Eds!"

Usually, Eddie would scowl and playfully bat Richie away, but tonight he only hums and snuggles into Richie's side. They watch the rest of the movie play out, but since they missed a good portion of it, they mostly spend the time yawning happily and watching how the colors flicker on each others' cheeks.


	5. shrimp heaven when

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shrimp!! heaven!! now!!

"Eddie. Please. Eds, Eddie Spaghetti, babe, love of my life, don't do this to me. _Sweetheart_."

"I'm sorry, but I have to."

As if in slow motion, Richie watches Eddie put down the plus four card.

"FUUUUUUU-" Richie glances over to Francie, who is doubling over in giggles-- "-UUUDGESICLE."

Eddie only draws the four cards for him, a childish spark in his eyes, and says, "yellow."

"WHY. I had one card left. ONE CARD, Eduardo! Does that mean nothing to you?"

"It means I'm about to win," Eddie says, and Francie sticks her tongue out at Richie. Richie dramatically gasps and brings a hand to his heart.

"I hath been betrayed by my own kin!"

"Get up so you can watch me win, Pops!"

Francie nudges him up before she places her last card: a yellow 5. "I win!"

Richie and Eddie are both slack jawed while Francie dances gleefully, throwing the cards about in victory.

"You were saying?" Richie starts, but Eddie sticks his tongue out at him, too. Richie's heart swells at how endearing this beautiful little gremlin is and while Francie is distracted, he captures Eddie's lips in a soft kiss before breaking away. They grin at each other, then at Francie.

"Bow before the queen of Uno! Behold, the master of game night!" Richie cheers, and Francie curtsies neatly.

"Thank you, thank you," she says, twirling around in her new dress (it says SHRIMP HEAVEN NOW on it in ridiculous letters with a little pink embroidered shrimp with wings below it, which made Richie chuckle when he first saw it for the sheer randomness, but Eddie only allowed her to get it because he's a sucker for baby blue and cute collars.

"Our baby girl is growing up," Richie pretends to cry as Francie goes to get Spot It from the shelf. "She's already beating us at Uno!"

"To be fair, you do suck at Uno. I think the last game you had 25 cards--"

"Says Mr. 'I'm about to win'," Richie retorts, getting a little laugh from Eddie.

* * *

They end up making a podcast together; not quite a TV show, but still.

Richie's job has been going well - turns out, people love the Goofy impression, even if his superiors aren't impressed when he brought it out when he wasn't supposed to. Oops.

Eddie has been doing well, too, at the LGBT Center; he always comes home and has stories to tell, and since Francie has been going to school most of the day, they don't have to worry about her (even though of course they still do). 

When Richie and Eddie are lounging together on the couch, Francie in her room playing on a Nintendo 3DS she'd gotten for her birthday, Richie decides to search up Shrimp Heaven Now for the hell of it. Within minutes, he's rolling in laughter, and Eddie peers up from his comic book with a raised eyebrow.

"These guys are fucking hilarious," Richie wheezes (It's not a pretty sound, but hey, he's old now).

"Are you watching Youtube?"

"Yeah, but it's a podcast- it's not even scripted, but fuck, this is funny."

Eddie scooches over to look at Richie's phone, and they watch fucking Lin Manuel Miranda singing a song about Shrimp Heaven Now. ("Shrimp heaven wheeeen. Shrimp heaven NOWWW.") How has he never heard of these guys before? Richie watches Eddie's expression shift from curiosity to that squished face he makes when he thinks something is really funny, and his heart dances a little in his chest.

They're halfway through a playlist of "McElroy bois" when Richie says, "I think we could do that."

"We?"

"Hell yeah, we could call it _Gays on Stereo_."

They don't end up making _Gays on Stereo_ , and they also don't end up making _Husbands Host_ ("It's alliteration, Richie, it's catchy!"), but they do end up making _Unashamedly Us_. It's a podcast that involves a segment for Richie making a variety of voices and Eddie, and sometimes Francie, have to guess what voice he's doing. There's a segment called _Spaghetti Stories_ (dubbed by Richie, but there's alliteration, so it's acceptable) where Eddie goes on Twitter and reads stories sent in by listeners. There's a segment where they just talk about random shit going on in their lives, and sometimes they talk about social issues, too. And they also have a part where they host guests through a call (this part is actually called _Husbands Host_ ), and they eventually host all of the Losers either together or individually, along with other podcasters and friends. It's a ton of fun because they get to have fun conversations without having to physically be in the same space, and the people love it.

Richie and Eddie are both scrolling through Twitter to see what people are saying about their recent upload --

_omfg theyre my new gay dads i love them so much. <3_

_PLEASE HAVE BEV ON AGAIN I LOVE HER!! much love from ohio uvu_

_richie what was that voice???? mickey mouse sounds like he got hit by a fuckign car or smth-_

Spaghetti is, once again, a gay icon. *pride flag emoji*

\-- and then they see it. Justin McElroy just started following their podcast account.

Richie just hollers, and Eddie's eyes widen in disbelief. Then another notification:

Justin McElroy retweeted their recent upload.

"Holy shit," Eddie says, when the other McElroys follow them, too.

That's how they end up hosting all three of the brothers on their next episode.


End file.
